Hi Rick;

#1 - I'll leave this one for others. I did my fill coats before cutting hatches, but then the design I built didn't require any seam taping.

#2 - I don't know how Ross built his hatch retainer, but there is a version out there that does what you describe. I think it originated with Vaclav at OneOcean Kayaks (but I could be wrong), and there are some pics on his website. It involves creating a recessed channel that the gasket sits in. You place a sacrificial gasket around the hatch before forming the glass lip. Then later, you scrape the sacrificial gasket out of the retainer, clean up the channel, and replace it with a slightly thicker gasket. I used a 1/8" thick neoprene gasket (Home Depot - weather stripping) for the sacrificial, and a 3/16" thick neoprene gasket for the final. I don't know yet how leak-proof it is, but it seems pretty well sealed.

There are a couple good series of pics showing the method on John Schroeder’s website, and Scott Dollmeyer’s “Arica’s Silver” site, that helped me make up my mind about this. Search the archives for links to these sites.

#3 - Yes, epoxy over the edges of the hatches, and the exposed edges of the deck, at the hatch opening.

Ken

: While I'm considering all the advice I got on glassing the lip (thanks
: again), I'm also looking ahead to the hatches. A few questions come to
: mind.

: 1. My deck only has 2 fill coats, and will need more before the deck is
: "done" per se. Will I be better off doing those fill coats now -
: before I do the hatches - or after? I was originally going to do it after,
: so that I could get the exterior seam taped and work the final few fill
: coats while the boat was a single entity, rather than two halves. But, it
: seems easier (in regards to hatches) to do the fill coats first. What do
: you think? Six in one, half dozen in the other?

: 2. This one is the more concerning of the three. I'm going to do the Leidy
: Lid hatches. I don't know if I'm having trouble with my eyes, interpreting
: 2 deminsional photos, just looking at it from a weird perspective, or
: what, but when I examine the text and photos on Ross's web site, something
: isn't clicking (nothing wrong with his web site - it's FANTASTIC). I'm
: having trouble with the part about the weather stripping while making the
: fiberglass piece that the hatch will sit down on. What would really help
: is to see a cross section of it - anybody got one? From the perspective of
: a cross section, is the glass taking a little "dip" so that the
: weather stripping can be adhered to it and the top of the weather strip
: stay even with the underside of the deck? Maybe a tad higher for the sake
: of a good tight seal? Did that make any sense at all?

: Let me try the question this way.... if looking at it from a cross
: section.... the glass piece follows the underside of the deck. At the edge
: of the hatch, it takes a 90 degree turn down the same distance as the
: height of the weather strip, then does another 90 degree turn towards the
: middle of the hatch, the same distance as the width of the weather strip,
: so that it creates a little lip or ledge for the weather strip to sit on,
: and the bottom of the hatch remains even with the underside of the deck.
: Is that correct?

: I think that's what's happening, but when I look at Ross's pics, my eyes
: start playing tricks on me. Again - no fault of Ross's pics.....I'm having
: some eye trouble, but trying to hang in there until January 1st when I
: have vision coverage in my benefits package. I'm a cheap bastard :-)

: 3. The edges of the hatch and the deck where the hatches were cut... are they
: just coated with epoxy and varnish? I haven't seen any references to them
: being glassed on the edges, but common sense says that they must at
: minimum be sealed with epoxy.

: Anyway, I hope those questions make sense - particularly the second one.
: That's the one I really need the help with.

: Thanks

: Rick